An explanation from Rozhdestvensky:<P> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR><B>Bolshoi Head Discusses Resignation</B><P>MOSCOW (AP) - The former artistic director of Russia's Bolshoi Theater said Sunday that problems with a new production and the defections of key singers led to his resignation from the 225-year-old theater.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P><A HREF="http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20010617/en/russia_bolshoi_1.html" TARGET=_blank><B>More</B></A>

<B>Beggar's soap opera</B> <BR> <BR>We must all band together and do our best to save the ailing Bolshoi.<P>BY RODNEY MILNES in The Times <P>The emphasis in this article is on opera, but the problems are addressed in all their horror. Milnes believes that a rescue operation by Western philanthropists is the best hope. <BR> <BR> <BR> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Last week Gennady Rozhdestvensky announced his resignation as artistic director of the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, home of the Bolshoi Opera and Ballet companies. According to local observers, this was in a fit of pique at hostile press reactions to the new production of Prokofiev’s The Gambler — in its first and hitherto unperformed version.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P><BR><A HREF="http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,62-2001202458,00.html" TARGET=_blank><B>more....</B></A><P><p>[This message has been edited by Stuart Sweeney (edited June 19, 2001).]

<B>Only heroes could save Berlin and the Bolshoi</B> <P><BR>Norman Lebrecht in The Daily Telegraph compels Berlin and the Bolshoi to learn from Covent Garden<P> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>A BAD week for big players. In Moscow, the Bolshoi lost its boss, again. In Berlin, there were warnings that Sir Simon Rattle would not take up his post as music director of the Philharmonic if the bankrupt city did not meet his financial and legal conditions. Both ensembles are edging towards an abyss.<P>The only surprise in the Bolshoi's beheading was its swiftness. Gennady Rozhdestvensky had been director for less than a year, installed by President Putin with a mission to restore rigour and morale.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> <P><BR><A HREF="Http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=000148269364269&rtmo=gGgkbjlu&atmo=99999999&pg=/et/01/6/20/balebr20.html" TARGET=_blank><B>more...</B></A><P>

Getting back on track?<P> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR><B>Chief Conductor Appointed at Bolshoi</B><P><BR>MOSCOW (AP) - Alexander Vedernikov has been appointed as chief conductor of the Bolshoi Theater's orchestra, the latest in a series of management changes at the famed opera and ballet theater.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P><A HREF="http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20010628/wl/russia_bolshoi_1.html" TARGET=_blank><B>More</B></A>

<B>Quiet young conductor tries to tame the Bolshoi snakepit</B><BR> <BR>Amelia Gentleman in Moscow for The Guardian<P><BR> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>The backstage drama at the Bolshoi saw the arrival this week of a young musical director whose mission is to drag the theatre out of the crisis that has shattered its reputation.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>Good luck! <P><BR><A HREF="http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4216873,090.html" TARGET=_blank><B>more...</B></A>

<B>Bolshoi gambles on another new leader</B><P>by George Loomis in The Financial Times<P><BR> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>It is difficult to say which was more of a shock, the appointment last September of Gennady Rozhdestvensky as artistic director of the Bolshoi Theatre or his sudden resignation last month. From remarks Rozhdestvensky made following his resignation, it appears that he had little inkling of what his job would involve, which makes the process that led to his appointment look even worse now than it did originally. Yet instead of moving more deliberately this time, the theatre, backed by the ministry of culture, has astonished everyone by appointing Alexander Vedernikov, a respected ballet conductor and head of the Russian Philharmonia orchestra, as the Bolshoi's new chief conductor, just two weeks after Rozhdestvensky's resignation.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P><BR><A HREF="http://globalarchive.ft.com/globalarchive/article.html?id=010710001174&query=ballet" TARGET=_blank><B>more...</B></A>

<B>First Stage of Bolshoi Project Nears Completion</B><BR>By Alex Nicholson for The Moscow Times<P><BR>It might speak volumes to the skill of architect Alberto Kavos that the Bolshoi Theater is very much the same building it was almost a century and a half ago, but one thing is certain: The task of renovating the Bolshoi -- which is due to begin in earnest from January 2003 and predicted to cost between $160 million and $180 million -- is a daunting one. <P><A HREF="http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2001/11/27/017.html" TARGET=_blank><B>click for more</B></A>

<B>Moscow’s Bolshoi Theater is undergoing its own Russian revolution.</B> <BR>Vitaly Klintsov and Eberhard von Löhneysen from The McKinsey Quarterly via the valuable Moreover wire service. <P> <BR>During most of its 225 years, Moscow’s Bolshoi Theater had little concern for economics. In czarist and Soviet times, it didn’t need to raise private money or to compete for government subsidies. Budgets were defined solely by artistic need; ticket prices were kept low to provide broad access to top-quality culture; and the government generously filled the funding gap. Under this system, the Bolshoi became one of the world’s premier stages for classical ballet.<P>Then came Russia’s economic transformation, leading to big subsidy cuts that left the Bolshoi struggling. Aspiring dancers are still drawn to the dance company, but established stars can earn more elsewhere in the new Russia or overseas. The Bolshoi realized that to fulfill its artistic aspirations and to compete for the best talent, it needed more professional management and would be forced almost to double its revenues. To that end, the theater has redesigned its ticket distribution system and started fund-raising in earnest. Other measures are currently under consideration as well.<P><B>Note:</B> There is a free registration to view this article: <P><A HREF="http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/article_page.asp?ar=1105&L2=33&L3=95" TARGET=_blank><B>click for more</B></A>

<B>Bolshoi gets cash boost</B><BR>from the BBC website<P> <BR>The Russian Government is to pump $180m (£123m) into restoring the world-famous Bolshoi Theatre after a decade of artistic decline and financial troubles. <BR>The Bolshoi, in Moscow, has been described by President Vladimir Putin as "the symbol of Russian culture". <P>Four and a half years of rebuilding work would start in 2003, the theatre's general director Anatoli Iksanov told the Itar-Tass news agency. <P>The Bolshoi is famous for its ballet company, but has struggled to maintain its international reputation in recent years. <P><A HREF="http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/entertainment/arts/newsid_2026000/2026998.stm" TARGET=_blank><B>click for more</B></A><BR>

Putin’s new summer residence to cost £120m By CHRIS STEPHEN for The Scotsman

THERE is one thing that Russia, with its crumbling schools, rampant poverty, AIDS, alcoholism and million-plus street children needs above anything else - apparently. You guessed it: a new palace.....The price tag [of £125m] also neatly dovetails with the money the Bolshoi ballet needs, but cannot find, to save its own theatre, now in an advanced state of decay.

"Our city has very many problems - we can live without this palace," said Yuri Fidolvin of human rights group Citizen’s Watch. "I live in a communal apartment. Come and look at it. This palace, it’s not necessary, it’s a centre for the presentation of power."

Tonight's opening of a second auditorium at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow has been overshadowed by a row over the future of the original building. The inauguration of the new auditorium marks the end of the first phase of a £300m restoration of one of the best-known buildings in Russia, but the row between traditionalists and theatre administrators over the extent of alterations to the original structure is now putting the rest of the project in jeopardy. At the heart of the argument, and the Bolshoi, is the Beauvais Portico - the 10 marble columns around which the theatre was built. Theatre managers want to see it moved from its current position - inside the stageworks of the old auditorium - to make room for improved stage machinery. But traditionalists are livid that the portico, built at the back of the theatre by the French architect Osip Beauvais in the 19th century to complement the eight columns at the front, might be disturbed. They say any refurbishment must give the portico pride of place in the renovated theatre.

Russia's Bolshoi theater was to open Friday its long-awaited new opera and ballet house Friday night, alongside the original building.

Theater goers in Moscow have waited eight years for the pleasure of visiting the Bolshoi's second stage, after numerous construction delays and lapses in funding. On Friday night, a lucky few cast their eyes on a new production of the opera, The Snow Maiden. But the main show may well be the new stage itself.

The auditorium is shaped like a traditional Italian opera house, and decorated in pale blue, green, gray and white. A three-ton, Czech-made crystal chandelier hangs overhead, highlighting a ceiling painting, based on designs by a contemporary Russian artist.

The new stage is the same 21-meter length and 18-meter width as the original one in the Bolshoi, but the ceiling above is five meters lower.

New stage, old look at Bolshoi No hint of a progressive outlook at opera's second theater. By George Loomis for The International Herald Tribune

MOSCOW The Bolshoi Theater's reputation for conservatism, never seriously in doubt, was literally set in stone with the long-awaited opening of a new secondary theater on Theater Square. . With only 900 seats, the new theater - to be known as the New Stage - creates opportunities for small-scale works and for productions more adventuresome than those deemed appropriate for the big house, which seats 2,200. . But for anyone who thinks the New Stage, which will be used both for opera and ballet, signals a more progressive artistic outlook by the Bolshoi, one glance will suggest otherwise. An element of opulence is expected and even welcome. But architecturally, you would hardly know that the 20th century existed, except maybe the 1930s when the monumental style associated with Stalin flourished.

Wear and Tear Plans for the much-needed renovation of the Bolshoi Theater are finally in the works. By Raymond Stults for the Moscow Times.

Viewed from across Teatralnaya Ploshchad, the Bolshoi Theater presents one of Moscow's most magnificent spectacles. But a closer inspection reveals many signs of the wear and tear the theater has suffered during its nearly century-and-a-half of existence. Most conspicuous are the bare spots where great patches of plaster have fallen from the walls...

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